I use my Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Liner pen every single day without fail, which means I go through them pretty fast.

I’ve also been noticing when I use it in conjunction with higher-quality eyeshadows like Urban Decay’s, the liquid liner brush dries up if it has any powder residue whatsoever on it when I put the lid back on. At around $30 a pen--why do things cost so much more up here in Canada?--it has been getting harder to justify my habit, and I was worried I’d have to revert to my old smudgy pencil for a while.

But then I stumbled across Creer Beauty’s La Rose De Versailles liner pen.

Finding this product was a happy accident. When Mari brought me to Jealousy, a tiny Asian beauty supply shop near her house, I combed the packed walls I found the Creer line. Marked $14.99, these Japanese liquid liner pens looked exactly like my Stila one.

They came in all different colours, and the illustration of the pen tip looked pointy and perfect, Sure, the packaging was a little different (Creer’s pen comes in a plastic case that features an illustration of a beautiful blonde woman who I later learned is Lady Oscar, the possibly bisexual leading lady of a manga show The Rose of Versailles), but the pen itself was the exact same size and shape.

“It’s waterproof, too,” the salesperson added, “It really stays all day!” With that, I grabbed the black pen and marched over to the cash register. For half the price, I needed to know if this pen really compared to Stila’s.

I’m not usually one to opt for dupes, but, I’ve also been post-Christmas broke, and let’s face it: sometimes a great dupe can make all the difference in your beauty budget.

So I took my Japanese liner home that night and compared it to my very dried-out, very destroyed Stila.

Just as I’d suspected, the shape and size of the pen, including the tip, was exactly the same. The lids even fit one another interchangeably!

The liquid liner itself also seemed to be exactly the same: the texture, colour, and stay power matched up. It is, as far as I can tell, a perfect dupe, and for half the price, I’m totally sold!

The only con I’ve come across so far is that the Creer liner does appear to get just as dry as my Stila did if it is exposed to any shadow particles, so I try to quickly wipe it with a damp makeup pad before I put the lid back on for the day. This wastes a bit of product, but saves it from drying out in the long run.